Tuesday, April 30, 2013

How Bad Are Things In Europe?

Here’s a chloropleth from the April 26 article from The New York Times entitled “Southern Europe’s Recession Threatens to Spread North”

Note how few EU countries match the (below average) growth rate that America put up over the last year.

Also, recall that Russian money that fled Cyprus is now reported to be going to Latvia. Latvia is a member of the EU (like Cyprus) but is not a member of the EMU (unlike Cyprus) — so it’s reasonable to conclude that the situation won’t evolve the same way. Even so: check out Latvia’s growth rate: inflows of foreign cash are apparently good for you up until they’re bad for you.